The Fall 2002 Make-Up Exam

Here is a virtual replica of the make-up exam based on the "Literature of Migration" unit (minus, of course, the passages to be IDed in Part I; if I were to tell you what they were, I'd be forced to kill you). You may take this exam if you wish to have the grade you earn in it replace the mid-term exam on the "Literature of Reconstruction" unit. Parts I and II can be picked up from my office (Fenton 240) at 10 am, and should be returned by 11 am. Contact me directly if you wish to do Parts I and II so I know how many copies to make. Answers to Part III are due in class on Friday, November 15, 2002.

ENGL 206: Survey of American Literature.................Make-Up Examination............... Fall 2002 (Simon)

NAME: __________________ ................................................... DATE: ______________

Part I: PASSAGE IDENTIFICATIONS (roughly 10% of your grade; recommended time: 5-10 minutes)

Choose seven (7) of the twelve (12) passages that are listed at the end of this exam and identify both the author and title of each. Errors will be penalized for answers in this section (including spelling errors); partial credit will be awarded. Please fill out your answers to Part I below.

PASSAGE NUMBER..................................AUTHOR......................................TITLE
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.

For extra credit, you may try to identify the author and title for the other three passages. Errors will not be penalized for answers in this section; credit will be awarded only to exact identifications of author or title. Try for extra credit on Part I only AFTER completing Part II.

PASSAGE NUMBER....................................AUTHOR....................................TITLE
h.
i.
j.
k.
l.

PART II: INTERPRETIVE SKILLS (roughly 45% of your grade; recommended time: 45 minutes)

Demonstrate your competence in the following interpretive skills:

A. Do a brief close reading of a passage from Part I (different from the passage chosen for IIB or IIC): write one to four paragraphs on its meaning and the means by which that meaning is disclosed, with the goal of explaining what is happening in the passage, both on the level of plot/character (for fiction) or argument/evidence (for essays or autobiographies) and on the level of language use (figurative language, rhetorical strategies, tone, etc.).

B. Briefly relate a passage from Part I (different from the passage chosen for IIA or IIC) to the work from which it comes: write one to four paragraphs on its function, on the ways in which it contributes to the meaning and significance of the larger work.

C. Briefly compare/contrast a passage from Part I (different from the passage chosen for IIA or IIB) to a work by a different author: write one to four paragraphs on a single "issue" (for example, conflict/theme/problem/process/idea) that the passage addresses, focusing on similarities and differences between the treatment of it in the passage and the treatment of that "issue" in another work, and trying to identify what is distinctive and significant about each author's treatment of that "issue."

Read all your answers over again before handing in your exam. Give yourself time to plan your approach to the exam; time spent planning what you will write in Part II is time well spent. Relax, focus, and enjoy yourself.

PART III: SHORT ANSWER/INTERPRETIVE ESSAY (roughly 45% of your grade; 3 take-home essays) You may consult the course anthology and/or the web sites listed on the links page to help you develop your responses to Sections A and B of Part III, so long as you cite sources correctly using MLA format (points will be taken off for incorrect citation formatting). However, you may not consult any other person for help on any aspect of Part III.

A. SHORT ANSWER (each worth 10-15% of your grade)

Choose two (2) of the following five (5) options on which to write short answer essays (no more than one single-spaced typed/printed page) on key concepts and contexts for our readings.

• Explain the term "migration narrative." Illustrate each key point of your explanation by reference to a different literary work from the "Literature of Migration" unit.
• Explain the term "American modernism." Illustrate each key point of your explanation by reference to a different literary work from the "Literature of Migration" unit.
• Discuss conflicting views of the politics of westward expansion in the Literature of Migration. Be sure to make reference to at least 3 texts from the unit in the course of your discussion.
• Discuss conflicting views of the politics of immigration in the Literature of Migration. Be sure to make reference to at least 3 texts from the unit in the course of your discussion.
• Discuss conflicting views of the legacies of migration to and within the United States in the Literature of Migration. Be sure to make reference to at least 3 writers from the texts in the course of your discussion.

B. INTERPRETIVE ESSAY (15-20% of your grade)

Choose one (1) of the following options on which to write a short interpretive essay (no more than two single-spaced typed/printed pages). Your task here is to let me understand your position. It is better to be reasonable (evidenced and persuasive and thoughtful) than "right" (to select an "answer"). You may even discover that your "answer" is your opening sentence and all the rest (the important stuff) is justification/explanation. You may assume I am familiar with the texts, so keep plot summary and other scene-setting devices to an absolute minimum.

• After the Civil War and Reconstruction, World War I and the Great Depression were the next major events that affected the United States as a nation. Your task if you choose this option is to use the Literature of Migration to help illustrate the most important ways the United States was affected by these world-wide events. What light does the Literature of Migration shed on the effects of World War I and the Great Depression on the United States as a nation?
• The "Literature of Migration" unit has focused on interactions between 'natives' and 'migrants' to a particular place at a particular time--or, perhaps more accurately, between newcomers to a place and those who have been there somewhat longer--whether (depending on place and time) the 'natives' are American Indians, Mexican Americans, Europeans, or white Americans whose ancestors emigrated to North America before other immigrants to the United States arrived or (also depending on place and time) the 'migrants' are European explorers and conquistadors in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, white American settlers travelling westward in the nineteenth century, black Americans travelling northward in the early twentieth century, white Americans travelling in Europe in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, southern and eastern European immigrants travelling to Ellis Island or east Asian immigrants travelling to Angel Island in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Your task if you choose this option is to define the most important 'kinds' of interaction depicted in the Literature of Migration, and to convince your readers these are the most important interactions. Be sure to illustrate each pattern/kind of interaction with examples from at least two works from the "Literature of Migration" unit.
• Almost every writer in the "Literature of Migration" unit is interested in the ways migration affects American identity, in the relation between the new peoples and cultures coming to the United States and the stories told to define a sense of national unity and community. By the end of the nineteenth century the dominant way in which migration and American identity were linked was through the circulation of stories celebrating the Puritans as the original migrants to and founders of America--stories that encouraged new migrants to emulate the Puritans as prototypical Americans. Your task if you choose this option is to survey the ways that migrant writers from the late nineteenth century to the present responded to this image of the Puritans as prototypical Americans and offered their own ways of linking migration and American identity. Be sure to illustrate each kind of response to the dominant narrative/link between migration and American identity with at least two works from the "Literature of Migration" unit.

ENGL 206: Survey of American Literature, Fall 2002
Created: 11/8/02 5:41 pm
Last modified: 11/8/02 6:10 pm